VCX China/USA

China/USA

By CWR China Virtual Cultural XChange Reporter

Emily SUN - City University of Hong Kong - Hong Kong, China

April 28

Do American Sinologists and Reporters Really Understand China?

Do American Sinologists and Reporters Really Understand China?

Before our this month's article, please just have look at the following news:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/14/AR2010031400

368.html?wprss=rss_business

Newly powerful China defies Western nations with remarks, policies

By John Pomfret
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, March 15, 2010

BEIJING -- China's government has embraced an increasingly anti-Western tone in

recent months and is adopting policies across a wide spectrum that reflect a height-

ened fear of foreign influence.

The shift has accelerated as China has emerged stronger from the global financial

meltdown, with a world-beating economic expansion rate and a growing nationalist

movement. China has long felt bullied by the West, and its stronger stance is

challenging the long-held assumption shared among Western and Chinese business-

men, academics and government officials that a more powerful and prosperous China

would be more positively inclined toward Western values and systems.

China's shift is occurring throughout society, and is reflected in government policy

and in a new attitude toward the West. Over the past year, the government of

President Hu Jintao has rolled back market-oriented reforms by encouraging China’s

state-owned enterprises to forcibly buy private firms. In the past weeks, China

announced plans to force Western companies to turn over their most sensitive

technology and patents to Chinese competitors in exchange for access to the

country’s markets.

Internally, it has carried out more arrests and indictments for endangering state

security over the past two years than in the five-year period from 2003 to 2007,

according to a report released Friday by the Dui Hua Foundation, a San Francisco-

based human rights organization.

China has also reined in the news media and attempted to control the Internet more

vigorously than in the past. This month, it announced regulations designed to make

it harder for China's fledgling community of nongovernmental organizations to get

financial support from overseas. In foreign affairs, after years of playing down differ-ences, it has reverted to a tone not heard in more than a decade, condemning recent

U.S. decisions to sell weapons to Taiwan and to have President Obama meet the

exiled Tibetan leader, the Dalai Lama.

"This is a fundamental shift, and I've been here a long time," said James L. McGregor, a

senior counselor with the public affairs firm Apco China. "It's a change in national attitude."

For their part, senior Chinese leaders bristle at the notion that China is turning away

from reforms or is reluctant to cooperate with Western nations. In a news conference

on Sunday, Premier Wen Jiabao said he was aware of "theories about China's arrogance,

toughness and triumphalism," but rejected them. Asked about widespread criti-cism of

China's hard-line position at the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, for

example, Wen replied: “It still baffles me why some people continue to make an issue

about China.”

Nonetheless, China's legislature, whose annual session ended this weekend, also

showed the trend toward toughness. With a reported 700,000 security personnel

posted throughout the city for the 10-day session, Beijing was in a virtual lockdown.

Inside the Great Hall of the People, the proposals -- albeit spurious -- put forward by

the delegates to the National People’s Congress included calls for all Internet cafes to

be taken over by the government and a declaration that all cellphones should be equipped

with surveillance cameras.

The shift does not bode well for U.S.- China relations. The Obama administration

entered office with an ambitious China agenda comprising plans to cooperate on climate

change, curbing the nuclear ambitions of Iran and North Korea, and stabilizing the global

financial system. In China, those plans are generally viewed by the party leadership as a

trap to overextend and weaken the country, according to a Chinese official who spoke on

the condition of anonymity because he would lose his job if his name were published.

In his news conference, Wen also seemed disinclined to bend to another American

demand -- that China allow its currency, the yuan, to appreciate against the dollar,

which (theoretically) would boost U.S. exports. Wen countered that he didn't think the

yuan is undervalued and that the U.S. method of seeking to enlarge exports through

tweaking currency exchange rates is "protectionist."

The change comes during what a leading Chinese economist, Hu Angang, in an interview

called "the longest golden era in China since the opium wars" of the 1840s, when British

warships forced China to open to trade. From its position as an impoverished, developing

country, it has jumped into the ranks of the powerful.

But the closer China gets to a variety of firsts -- No. 1 exporting nation and even No. 1

economy in the world -- the more its government seems to exhibit a nagging insecurity and

opposition to the West.

"The Chinese people are no longer embarrassed about being Chinese," said Wang Xiaodong,

a leading nationalist writer who has co-authored a series of popular books with titles such

as “China Is Unhappy,” which capitalized on the growing anti-Western trend. “The time

when China worshipped the West is over. We have a rightful sense of superiority.”

"People are now looking down on the West, from leadership circles to academia to everyday

folk," said Kang Xiaoguang, a professor at Renmin University who studies NGOs and Confucius.

The turn away from the West is evidenced within China's leadership. China's previous president,

Jiang Zemin, is widely thought to have been pro-American. He was fond of reciting the

Gettysburg Address and crooning American songs. During a trip to the United States in 1997,

he took the politically risky move of announcing that China welcomed continued U.S. engagement

in Asia -- including the stationing of American troops. On the other hand, Hu, who took power in

2002, is the first Communist leader with no experience outside the current system.

Other factors are at play. It is campaign season in Beijing. In two years, the leadershipof the

Communist Party will undergo a huge transition, with as many as seven of the nine seats of the

Standing Committee of the Politburo -- the center of power --up for grabs. Nothing looks better

in China than being tough on the West.

Secondly, despite its apparent successes, China's leadership continues to be alarmed by

international developments -- such as the “color revolutions” inside the former Soviet Union -- and

domestic ones as well, such as the anti-Chinese riots in Tibet in 2008 and the northwest province of

Xinjiang last year.

A recent example is how the party reacted to the threat by the Internet search company Google,

which said it would leave the country if China continued to censor the Internet. Concerned about an

outpouring of support in China for the American com-pany, the Ministry of Propaganda framed the

issue not as an argument over freedom but as part of a U.S. strategy to contain and isolate China.

On Friday, Li Yizhong, China's minister of industry and information technology, issued China's toughest

statement on the dispute yet. "If you want to do something that disobeys Chinese law and regulations,

you are unfriendly, you are irresponsible, and you will have to pay the consequences," he warned.

China's policy changes have met with opposition. Not all of its efforts to nationalize private companies

have succeeded. And China's plans to compel Western businesses to share their technology have prompted

a backlash from a community that does not like to criticize China openly. On that front, Wen on Sunday

seemed to give in a little.

"I must say I am still not in very close touch with foreign businessmen doing work in China," he acknowledged.

"In the next three years I will create more opportunities...to listen to your views.”

Commentary:

Nowadays, it seems there are more and more news or articles by criticizing China from kinds

of aspects, such as politics, economy and so on, and most are these articles are written

by American sinologists or reporters. And maybe just because these articles are written

by those sinologists who are considered as owning professional knowledge about China and

those reporters who are considered as spreaders of immediate news, those articles are likely

convincing to most of American readers, especially those who know little about China (e.g.

Chinese Culture, Chinese history, Chinese people and so on). However, even those sinologists,

do they really understand China? Do they really understand the ideas of Chinese decision makers,

as well as the ideas of Chinese civilians?

A sample example: to an American joke, Americans can laugh to death because they think it

very funny, however, Chinese people may not feel that joke funny, and even can not understand

that joke. Why? Because it is not just a joke, but it contains some American culture background

and elements. Also, to a Chinese joke, Chinese people think it funny, but Americans can not

understand. Even those American sinologist, if Chinese civilians tell them some Chinese jokes which,

will they really feel those jokes funny as Chinese people? Even though those American sinologists

may study Chinese culture and think themselves know well about China, they never merge in this

culture, they are never born or live in this culture, so they may not understand Chinese culture deeply.

Besides, about this article, don't you find any doubtful ideas?

Firstly, the writer of this news thought that The turn away from the West is evidenced within

China's leadership. And he thought the proof was China's previous president, Jiang Zemin, is

widely thought to have been pro-American. On the other hand, Hu, who took power in 2002,

is the first Communist leader with no experience outside the current system. However, if based

on the writer's view, the recent prime minister in Japan should have be closer to America than his

precursor was, because the recent prime minister has ever studied and taught in some American

university. But in fact, we can not see such evidence that is closer to America at all.

Secondly, in a society or nation, its own culture elements may be contained or hidden in kinds of

aspects, including a policy's making and so on. People may can not accept some other culture, but

can we really decisively identify some culture is correct or some culture is incorrect?

And if you force some people to accept your culture or you force them to change their culture into

your own culture, then isn't it an invasion to a culture?

Thirdly, the writer said: Concerned about an outpouring of support in China for the American

company, the Ministry of Propaganda framed the issue not as an argument over freedom but

as part of an American strategy to contain and isolate China. Then we have to doubt that since

the White House has meddle in immediately, why should Chinese government only considered it

as an issue about the freedom of information because it will be the business of China itself?

In the next month's articles, there will be some other Chinese civilian's comments about such news

and articles.

To be continued... ...

10:56 PM GMT | Read comments(0)

March 25

Growing Pains – An 80-90’s American TV sitcom in China

Growing Pains - An 80-90s American TV Sitcom in China

As Long As We Get Each Other

Show me that smile again

Oh, show me that smile

Don't waste another minute on your cryin'

We're nowhere near the end

We're nowhere near

The best is ready to begin

… …

Do you feel familiar with this song?

This is the song at the beginning of a popular American sitcom – Growing Pains, which was popular not only in US in 1980s-90s, but also in China those years. At that time, this drama had been translated into Chinese and dubbed into Chinese. When I was still a primary school student, I always enjoyed watching this TV drama with my parents.

The first time Growing pains was played on Chinese TV channel was about in 1980s, and once it was played in China, it became popular with Chinese people. It impressed Chinese people deeply. No only young people, but also some old people who did not like American dramas at that time even talked about Growing Pains. As far as I know nowadays, Mike, the oldest son of Seavers in that drama was several young Chinese girls’ idol at that time. I think it was the same with that in America those years.

Let’s just have look at other Chinese audience’s memories of this sitcom:

Lucky Dreamer (nickname):

I was born in 1986. I began to watch Growing Pains when I was very young. I was very interested in that large refrigerator in the Seavers’ kitchen at that time. I even thought that it had many supernatural functions. And I also hoped our family could also own one.

Roddick (nickname):

Growing Pains, what a perfect name! But sometimes I wonder why it wasn’t named as Growing Gains. Isn’t it the message that this drama tries to convey to us? The audience can learn some valuable things from each episode of this drama.

DianDian (nickname):

The first time I watched Growing Pains, I hoped I could have an elder brother who was just like Mike. The second time I watched Growing Pains, I hoped I could have a younger brother who was just like Ben. The third time I watched Growing Pains, I hoped I could have a friend who was just like Bona. The forth time I watched Growing Pains, I hoped I could have a girl friend who was just like Kate. The fifth time I watched Growing Pains, I hoped I could have a wife who was just like Maggie…….

But the meaning of Growing pains is far more. Growing Pains presented Chinese audience a totally new American family education: the children and the parents danced together at home; they share their opinions with each other about a movie or pop music just like friends. Moreover, it brought the concept of soap drama to Chinese audience at that time.

Also, here are some Chinese audience’s memories:

SUNNY (nickname):

As a young girl at that time, after watching this TV drama, I began to have a primary image about American family: it was true that something was different from Chinese family. Anyway, Mike was so cool~

I c sea (nickname):

It was hard for us, the only child in China, to learn the happiness of some brothers and sisters living together. However, I admired them so much when I watched it.

Lucky (nickname):

When I watched this drama in my childhood, I promised to be a father like Jason Seaver!

Some years later, about in 1994, there was a sitcoms made in China whose style was similar to Growing Pains, named I Love My Family （我爱我家）. This is the first sitcoms in China. In this comedy, the stories mainly happened in a family in which a couple, a daughter, a housekeeper as well as a lovely grandfather. It became very popular quickly in China since it was played on TV. Lots of actors and actresses became famous by this sitcom.

Let me just show you some photos of this sitcom.

Now I grow up, and also experienced some growing pains. As a university student now, I still like to watch Growing Pains on Internet. In my opinion, In Growing pains, no matter the style of the actor’s dressing or the music they sang may represent a period of times. It may bring us lots of memories about the past.

Nowadays, there are more and more sitcoms both in America and in China. However, in my heart, also in lots of Chinese audience’s heart I think, both Growing Pains and I Love My Family are greatest TV drama forever.

9:39 PM GMT | Read comments(0)

June 03

Have you ever watched Chinese cartoons?

Have You Ever Watched Chinese Cartoons?

The three pictures above are three Chinese animations in three different styles. The first one was 2-D animation named Nezha Conquers the Dragon King, and made in 1979; the second one is a puppet stop motion animation named A Fan Ti which was made in 1979-1980； and the third one was a cartoon film in Chinese ink and water colours made in about 70s. These cartoons were typical Chinese animations and very popuplar with the Chinese children born in 80s; almost all Chinese people born in 80s know and remember these cartoons.

Animation in China was started and developed from 60s to 80s. The animations in those times contains obvious characteristics: lots of animations were adapted from historical stories, legends. Lots of skills of Chinese traditional arts were used in animation those times, such as Chinese ink and water painting, shadow figures playing and so on. Those cartoons might be childish -- there was neither breathtaking advature nor beautiful girls in those cartoons, but it satisfied children's hearts at those times, and each of those cartoons impressed children deeply. However, Chinese animation began to go dwon since 90s, even though there are more and more high tech in animation making. And one of important reasons is that Chinese cartoons lose its own style nowadays. We can not find any cartoons nowadays which are like those in our childhood, but we still miss those childish animation.

1:40 AM GMT | Read comments(0)

April 28

Reading Lincoln's death, I cried... ...

Reading Lincoln's Death, I Cried... ...

I Cried... ...

Abraham Lincoln, it is sure that this name is well known by us. Abraham Lincoln,

among the more than thirty American presidents, the presidents that truly interest

Chinese people may be only four: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln,

and Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Among them, Lincoln may be the most admirable one in Chinese

people's heart.

The reasons why Chinese people admire him is not only that his efforts and achievements on the

unification of America and the liberation of slave, but also his respectable character. In the hearts

of Chinese people who know Lincoln, he is an honest, modest, diligent and great man.

Even lots of young children in China are admire to Lincoln. There is story about Lincoln in the textbook

of sixth grade primary school pupil, named the son of shoemaker. The story tells that Lincoln's family

was very poor when he was young, however, he still worked hard and studied hard even though he

was too poor to study at school. The story also tells that Lincoln was once laughed by a senator when

he was elected the US president, but he was not angry, instead, he said calmly to the senator: "I am

appreciate that you draw my memory about my father. He has passed by. But I am the son of a shoemaker

forever . And I know I will never be a remarkable president as my father did as a shoemaker." Also, he said

to the senator: "As far as I know, my father has also made shoes for your family before. If your shoes

are not comfortable, I can help you to fix it, even though I am not a shoemaker as great as my father was."

This story about Lincoln is used to educate children how to be a tolerant, confident man. Actually, this story

not only moves those young students but also lots of adult.

A friend once told me: "I admire Lincoln so much. How much I wish that I can see this great man! When I read

his death in the biography about him, I cried."

10:58 PM GMT | Read comments(1)

June 02

Emperor Qin's bronze Chariot and horse exhibited in the World Expo

Emperor Qin's Bronze Chariot and Horse Exhibited In the World Expo

As one of valuable relics excavated from Emperor Qin's tomb, a bronze chariot and horse was exhibited in the World Expo on 1th June. Do you know there are lots of mysteries about this relic? So today I will tell you some stories about Emperor Qin's tomb as well as the relics from the tomb.

Emperor Qin, who is also called Qin Shi Huang, was one of important and famous emperors in Chinese ancient history. He was the first emperor of the unified China from 221BC till 210BC. He undertook several projects to consolidate his reign and those projects had deep influence in the development of Chinese history.

Mysteries in Emperor Qin's Tomb

Acutally, Emperor Qin's tomb has not been totally excavated, and most of information about the tomb are from some historical records. The tomb may be as large as a football field. According to some historical records, the tomb consisted of an interior city and an exterior city. The underground Palace was gem-studded replica of imperial housing above ground. And to deter would-be tomb robbers, some booby traps with automatic-shooting arrow this may be one of reasons why the tomb has not been totally excavated nowadays. In the tomb, gems and pearls were inlaid in the ceiling to represent the sun, moon and stars in the sky; some areas on the ground were filled with mercury to stands for rivers, lakes and seas on the earth. As we know, mercury is also poisonous to the human body, so the mercury also made sense in the defensing of tomb robbers.

Mysteries of The Terracotta Army in the Tomb

The excavated Emperor Qin's warriors we see from photos nowadays are without colour, while the warriors were originally in colour. One of important reasons that the colour faded was the erosion by the air. There was once a sword found in the tomb. The mystery of this sword is its sharpness even though buried under the earth for thoudands of years. Besides, the sword was observed by moden technology that it was undertaken with anti-corrosive treatment, however, as far as we know, the earliest techinique of anti-corrosive treatment was only five hundred years ago, but such treatment on this sword was thoundands of years ago.

Believe or not, scientists nowadays find that all of the terracotta warriors excaveted from Emperor Qin's tomb are different from each other, such as their headwear, dressing and so on. However, there is still one interesting common: all those terracotta were single-edge eyelid. It was said that Qin Shi Huang was single-eyelid, so these terracotta were made single-edge eyelid.

10:13 PM GMT | Read comments(0)

March 25

Travil in my hometown with me

CWR Virtual Cultural XChange

Virtual Tour - April 2010

Travil in my hometown with me

Even though I am living in HongKong, I miss my hometown all the time. So I want to begin our virtual tour with my hometown – Shandong Province. Today I will give you an introduction about people in Shandong Province.

Tall and Strong Shandong People

In China, it is said that Shandong local people, especially men, are famous for their tallness and muscular, compared with Chinese people in other areas. Actually, people in northern China are usually taller than people in southern China. According to a survey in China, the average height of northern Chinese male is taller than that of southern Chinese people about 1.9 cm, and the average height of northern Chinese female is taller than that of southern Chinese female about 1.6 cm.

Why Shandong people are considered as tall and Strong? It may be because of a famous old novel – Water Margin, also known as Outlaws of the Marsh, written by Shi naian in Ming Dynasty. In this book, there were 108 heroes who rebelled against the oppressors of rulers. Among these 108 heroes, most of them were from Shandong, and they were all described as tall and very strong. Thus, people from Shndong are considered as tall and strong.

The book of Water Margin

one of heroes in Water Margin - WU Song

one of heroes in Water Margin - Cai Fu

One of heroes in Water Margin - Lin Chong

Garlic, Ginger, Green Onion and Shandong People

After reading this tittle, you may wonder what the relationship among them.Now let me tell you.

Garlic, ginger, green onion are all Shandong people's favourite, not only as ingredients in their dishes but also as vegetable they eat without cooking.

Besides, there is another traditional way to eating green onion. People often use a pancake to wrap up a piece of green onion and then eat them together. The pancake is made of millet and soybean.

A kind of traditional food in Shandong province - pancake with green onion rolled in

Some Famous people from Shandong in Chinese history

Confucius (孔子): a Chinese thinker and social philosopher, whose teachings and philosophy have deeply influenced not only Chinese thought and life, but also that of other Asia countries.

The place he lived was present-day Qufu in Shandong Province, which was the state of LU at his times. To memories Confucius, a temple was built there, which was called Qufu Dacheng Hall of Confucious Temple. It is still a major destination for cultural tourism, and many people visit his grave and the surrounding temples.

Qufu Dacheng Hall of Confucious Temple

The road leading to the temple. Most of trees on this road are thousand years old.

Grave of Confusious

Sun Wu (孙武): Better known as Sun Tzu (孙子)，he an ancient Chinese military general and strategist who is traditionally believed to have authored The Art of War, an influential ancient Chinese book on military strategy considered to be a prime example of Taoist thinking. The place Sun Tzu lived is Lin yin in Shandong Province. A temple was also built in his hometown to memorise him.